


until the morning comes around (I must be good for something)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: tell my father (this is my life) [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: ALL OF THE SIBLING BONDING, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Dave comes back!, Dave meets the Hargreeves, Happy Ending, Healing, M/M, NO INCEST YOU LITTLE SHITS, No Apocalypse, Now complete with angst in the 2nd chapter, Past Child Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Recovery, Sibling Bonding, and figuring out how to recover together, everyone's favorite queer addict necromancer, hey hey hey guys, how about abused children helping each other out, how's that for an idea, once again, we stan (1) stupid family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-03-20
Packaged: 2019-11-05 06:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17913443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: And of course, this isn’t something that Klaus gets to keep to himself. Introducing the love of Klaus’ life one by one to Klaus’ family is a trip, not gonna deny.Dave tells Klaus that night, the two of them standing in Klaus’ old bedroom, “Your family’s pretty great.”Klaus raises an eyebrow. “They nearly caused the apocalypse three days ago and have spent thirty years being more emotionally stunted than a teaspoon.”“Well, considering the fact that the day I came out my Mom kicked me out of the house, I’ll take yours anyday,” Dave says, “They do seem to love you, in their strange way.”Klaus thinks about Vanya, who sleeps cuddled with him half of the nights. He thinks about Ben, who keeps him from making the stupidest decisions. He thinks about Diego, who’s been helping keep him sober since the not-end of the world. He thinks about Allison, sharing her clothes with him without a fuss. He thinks about Five, who’s been grousing less and less about being mistaken for Klaus’ son. He even thinks about Luther, who’s fucked up but is trying harder nowadays, even bringing up the rather foolish idea of a Family Game Night.“Yeah, they really do,” Klaus says, “And I love them too.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "Sinners" by Barns Courtney.
> 
>  
> 
> Yep, this is officially a 'verse I will die for. I stan broken, dysfunctional families learning to live and love and heal, and I don't know how many stories this 'verse will have but I swear to god that there is no way I can let go of these children any time soon.

_Darling, Have you ever not pulled things from the wreckage?_

_Are you tired? Do your arms hurt?_

_Who offers you honey when you need it?_

_Who lets you rest?_

**-Upile Chisala**

 

The day of the non-end of the world, Diego sits Klaus down for a talk. “Vanya felt Ben yesterday,” Diego says, “Which means you’re sober,” and Klaus nods, giving him a lazy grin.

“Most sober I’ve been since I started drugs,” Klaus admits.

“And why, after sixteen years, have you finally decided to get sober?” Diego asks, and he seems to genuinely care. That’s a nice feeling, Klaus must admit, after years of his siblings treating him like he’s just a bit too far this side of crazy town.

“Let’s just says there was a special someone,” Klaus says, and Diego raises an eyebrow.

“What was her name?” Diego asks.

Klaus smiles at the flicker out of the corner of his eye that he knows will become Dave’s ghost within the next few hours. “His name was Dave,” he says. "We fought together at A Shau."

“Well, then,” Diego says, “He must have _really_ been special to be able to put up with all your shit.”

Klaus can't help but smile. "He really was. He was beautiful, and kind, and vulnerable, and strong. The perfect guy." 

-

Klaus really gets to know Five a bit better after the non-end of the world, and most of it happens in public places where Five gets mistaken for his son. It even happens at Vanya's concert, where the woman sitting behind them comments on how cute Klaus' son is.

And to be honest, this mistaken identity is something that Klaus will _always_ take too much pleasure in, and hey, who can blame him? Without drugs, life’s inherently less amusing. He’s taking pleasure where he can get it.

And speaking of pleasure- Dave. Fucking Dave. Dave’s still dead, but Klaus can talk to him, now, and on good days, can touch him for up to hours at a time.

And of course, this isn’t something that Klaus gets to keep to himself. Introducing the love of Klaus’ life one by one to Klaus’ family is a _trip_ , not gonna deny. The first to get to meet him is Ben, who gives a small speech about only wanting Klaus’ happiness and some shit like that. Dave takes it in stride, a small smile on his face the whole time, and promises not to break Klaus’ heart again (because, you know, _dying_ kind of has a tendency to break your lover’s heart). Ben nods and continues on whatever he does half the time when he’s dead, and Dave follows them around for the rest of the day, absolutely loving Klaus’ family’s antics.

Dave tells Klaus that night, the two of them standing in Klaus’ old bedroom, “Your family’s pretty great.”

Klaus raises an eyebrow. “They nearly caused the apocalypse three days ago and have spent thirty years being more emotionally stunted than a teaspoon.”

“Well, considering the fact that the day I came out my Mom kicked me out of the house, I’ll take yours anyday,” Dave says, “They do seem to love you, in their strange way.”

Klaus thinks about Vanya, who sleeps cuddled with him half of the nights. He thinks about Ben, who keeps him from making the stupidest decisions. He thinks about Diego, who’s been helping keep him sober since the not-end of the world. He thinks about Allison, sharing her clothes with him without a fuss. He thinks about Five, who’s been grousing less and less about being mistaken for Klaus’ son. He even thinks about Luther, who’s fucked up but is trying harder nowadays, even bringing up the rather foolish idea of a Family Game Night.

“Yeah, they really do,” Klaus says, “And I love them too.”

“Can’t wait to properly meet the rest of them,” Dave says, “Your stories about all of them definitely paint an interesting picture.”

“That might take awhile,” Klaus says, “You know, ‘cause none of them are dead yet.”

Dave puts a hand on Klaus’ and links their fingers together. “I believe in you,” he says, voice firm, eyes hopeful. “You’ll be able to make it so that we can all talk to each other. Your powers are beautiful, love, just like you are, and I believe that you can do anything.”

Klaus’s heart feels like it just might burst, and it’s not from the drugs. He had almost forgotten what life could feel like, with Dave in front of him, talking to him in the praising way no one else ever has. “You’re gonna get to meet them soon,” Klaus says, and he somehow believes this impossible idea.

-

Introducing Dave to Ben was easy- they’re both dead. The shocker really comes when Klaus’ hands glow blue and suddenly his entire family can see Ben and Dave, just like Dave had predicted. Ben instantly goes around and hugs everyone, while Diego takes one look at Dave, still in his war vest, and says, “This must be your  “special person,” Klaus.”

Dave smiles that beautiful smile of his. “You said that, love?” he asks, and Klaus nods.

“Lemme introduce you to my siblings,” Klaus says, and grabs Dave’s hand. Dave smiles at him, flashing a smile missing a tooth from a nasty fall as a kid, as Klaus drags him around to meet everyone. “First off we have Diego, aka Number Two, the most emo knifeslinger momma’s boy you’ll ever meet.”

“Oh, fuck off, Klaus,” Diego says even as he shakes Dave’s hand, ignoring the large bloodstain on Dave’s shirt under his vest. “Nice to meet you, man. Has Klaus told you that he nearly fought an entire bar of war vets over a picture of you?”

Klaus raises an eyebrow at Diego even as Dave says, “No, he hasn’t, but I’m definitely looking forward to him telling me that.” He hadn’t thought that Diego had made the connection between the photo and the bar and his comments.

“And Vanya, my favorite,” Klaus says, his words casual despite their importance. He’s not sure who his favorite is- most of his siblings have a claim to the title- but he probably relates most to Vanya, so there’s plenty of weight behind his words.

(And he also knows far too well that she needs compliments and validation. After a lifetime of being pushed aside, of being belittled when you’re not being ignored, any compliment can make your day. He has Dave for that, but Vanya has no one at all.)

“He’s lying,” Vanya says, but her small smile and the flush in her cheeks speaks to her happiness at Klaus’ comment. “His favorite’s Ben.”

“She’s only half-wrong,” Ben says from where he’s busy hugging Allison, who doesn’t quite seem ready to let go of Ben. “We’re both Klaus’ favorites.”

Since both Allison and Ben are busy, Klaus moves on to the next sibling- which just happens to be Luther, who Klaus always had a hard time describing to Dave. Dave had gotten the concepts of time travel and hypnosis and curving weapons easily, but the idea of going to the moon? Not so much.

"This is Luther, the big guy," Klaus says, gesturing to him. "He's, uh, well..."

"A bit out of this world," Five mutters, a shit-eating smirk on his face, and Klaus nods.

"Yeah, let's go with that."

Dave just nods and offers out a hand. "Super strength, right? Like Superman."

"Don't go giving him an ego," Diego says, "He's already got enough of one."

Now, that Klaus can pretty well agree on, so he pretty easily moves on to the next sibling. 

“And this is Five, the only one of us not to choose a name. Thinks he’s above it and all.”

“I’m fifty eight,” Five complains, “I’m a bit past the childish point in my life at which I choose a name.” But then he turns to Dave and some of the sharp edges soften from his expression. “Welcome to the family,” Five says, “We need a bit of normal around here.”

Klaus nearly wants to protest that Dave’s anything but normal- he’s a wonderful man who accepted Klaus for what he was and is, you know, a guy who died in 1969 and is currently being projected by Klaus’ supernatural connection to the dead realm, but then he realizes just how pointless the argument would be.

Dave shakes the kid’s hand. “Nice to meet you too,” he says. “You’re the time-travelling assassin, right?”

Five nods, a small but approving smile on his face, as Ben moves on to the next sibling, thus freeing up Allison for a greeting.

"Allison, the only one of us with common sense," Klaus says, knowing that his statement is only mostly true but enjoying the affronted looks on Luther, Five, and Diego's faces to say otherwise.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dave," Allison says, reaching out to shake Diego's hand. "Klaus has mentioned so much about you."

Which is a veritable lie, as Klaus has only told his living siblings (other than that one convo with Diego) that he was summoning his boyfriend and that they were to be polite, but Allison's always been the charmer. Klaus does appreciate, after all, the way it widens Dave's smile a bit. "I'm glad to hear that he did. He's said a lot about you too, you know. You have a daughter, I believe?"

But instead of responding, Allison blinks. “Klaus, they’re both gone,” she says, and Klaus realizes that his powers have stopped working strongly enough that the others can see Ben and Dave. He's gonna have to build up his strength so they can spend longer together.

He nods. “Alright. Well, glad you guys got to see ‘em.”

"Glad I got to meet them as well," Dave says, smile gorgeous.

"Yeah, thanks for the hugs," Ben echoes.

-

Being sober’s kind of a bitch. After all, Klaus has been in and out of rehab at least seven times without it ever working. There are plenty of days where having Dave and Ben by his side are almost not enough, days where the dead aren’t enough to keep the pain away.

On those days, he’ll seek out one of his other siblings. Most often it’s Vanya, whose quiet voice is gentle and who understands burying yourself into something that will push the world away. Often she’ll pull out her violin and play, and Klaus will sit on the table and watch as the pots and pans spin around the room, almost recreating that “Be Our Guest” scene from Beauty and the Beast as they dance and float in accordance with the music.

Sometimes, when Vanya’s busy or Klaus just doesn’t want to bother her, he’ll seek out Diego, who will engage him in some rather dangerous activity or investigation that will keep his mind off of the itch in his veins, and sometimes it’s Five, who will take them both to the mall to talk to Delores or carry on some conversation about the 1960s and 70s, which Five has visited a few times on his missions.

Once, he finds Luther and goes dancing to a club with him. It’s honestly kind of fun, watching Luther’s uncoordinated dancing under that overcoat of his, and it’s the kind of bonding activity that they did _not_ get to do that night of the rave. Tonight, though, Luther is more focused on hanging out with Klaus, not just drinking away his own problems, and it’s a good time.

Once, Klaus talks to Allison, and she offers to use her raspy voice to start a rumor that will erase his drug addiction. He understands what it means to her to offer. He knows how much she hates her power, the way it impinges on her sense of reality.

(In a way, her refraining from using her power is kinda like him trying not to use drugs. It would be so easy to use these two paths to help themselves, to relieve the pain they feel, and it takes such effort not to.)

“Thank you,” Klaus says, “But I’ve gotta do this on my own. Be strong, you know?”

Ben is smiling at him from the sofa and Dave shoots him a thumbs up, and Klaus' chest warms.

-

Things get real interesting when the rest of his family can see Ben and Dave. He can’t pull his old tricks of counting Ben in on things that he didn’t agree to, but that’s a small price to pay for Ben’s happiness at being able to sometimes interact with his siblings.

-

Klaus drops into Diego's room one day. Diego's had an obviously bad day, shown by the way his stutter started acting up a bit earlier, and Klaus doesn't know what's happening.

Klaus has never been known for logical entrances or social tact, so when he plops down on his brother's bed, looks his brother in the eye, and says, "You know, you've gotta tell me about that detective someday," it's not that strange.

And Diego, on the other hand, has never been easily disturbed either, so he responds just as casually. "Yeah, someday," he says.

The next thing out of Klaus' mouth is unexpected, even to him. "Maybe I can even find her for you." It takes a lot of effort to say, but they're doing a bit better, now. The offer doesn't scare him as much as it might have a little while ago. 

Diego's eyes go wide. "Seriously? You'd do that?"

"We've had a shit time, that's for sure, but yeah, man. You're my brother."

Diego leans forward and Klaus suddenly finds himself with his brother's arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Thank you, man," Diego mutters into Klaus' shoulder, and Klaus grins.  _This_ is what he wants. He wants a family that appreciates and supports each other.

-

Klaus met God once, and she didn't much like him. Klaus can't really bring himself to really care, not when he has his boyfriend and his siblings by his side, without the Apocalypse and Dad weighing over their heads. He's actually rather glad that God sent him back to earth, where he can spend time helping his siblings move forward and using his powers for good rather than for whatever his father wants.

('Cause, you know, fuck that guy. Dad fucked them all up real bad and the literal only thing he can find to thank Dad for was getting the seven of them together as babies. Everything after that- he fucked up real hard. Klaus doesn't miss him at all.)

-

Klaus spends a day trying to nail the door to the basement shut, and he can't quite do it. Turns out being raised by a billionaire who only takes you on missions to stop burglars doesn't really teach a boy how to properly do construction work.

Vanya helps out, though, humming an old favorite song of Klaus and Dave's that doesn't lock the basement door but utterly destroys the room she was trapped in. Then she goes to the mausoleum with him and uses her powers to block up the entrance to the cellar that Klaus was locked in.

"Have I ever told you that you're awesome?" Klaus asks her that night at dinner, and Vanya's smile is a bit sharp but it's still there.

"Maybe once or twice," she says.

"I've gotta tell you that more often," Klaus says. "Because damn, I wish I'd realized it earlier."

"I'm okay with that," Vanya says, her smile widening just a little bit.

-

The night before they're all set to head to California to meet Claire for the first time (three weeks after the Not-End of the world), Ben has the brilliant idea to turn music on in the main room. For the first time in their lives, the seven of them- Klaus' powers are holding up, and they're  _going_ to hold up, he swears it- are here. 

And then there's also Dave, eternally here with Ben nowadays. Through Klaus' powers, Dave becomes a dance partner for everyone, though he saves most of his dances for Klaus, of course.

The eight of them trade off partners constantly, and for once in the life of this mansion there is plenty of laughter and smiles. The music changes from piano to 70s to rap to show tunes to pop and everything in between, and thus the dancing does too.

(There's even alcohol, which Klaus stays far away from while Five drinks a little too much of it.)

It's incredibly silly and stupid and just a little too wonderful, getting to spend time with his family as if they're normal and not bizarre creatures. Sure, they're dancing in a mansion and Vanya's powers are sending a hundred tiny lightbulbs circling around under the roof in time to the music and Five keeps jumping through space with his dance partners and- okay, so they're not normal. But they're happy, and that's the good thing.

Klaus wouldn't give this night, these people, up for anything.


	2. survivor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus keeps getting forgotten. 
> 
> (Prologue to the series.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for temporary character death, child abuse, and, well, just the general warnings that come attached to the UA show.  
>  
> 
> Alrighty, so when it comes to the structure of this series I think it's going to work best if I just post any "extra" backstories/drabbles within the fic that each character is narrating. Basically, the first chapter of each story in this series reads chronologically (ergo, fic #1, chapter 1 is first time-wise, then fic #2, chapter 2, etc. down the line) while any extra chapters are just extra stories that I wrote for each character (eg. chapter 2 of this story is about Klaus' backstory, while chapter 2 of "just a dead man walking tonight" is further narrative about Number Five).
> 
> If you want stories from Klaus' POV, then this fic and its extra chapters would be for you.
> 
> Hope you guys all enjoy- this chapter's a lot more stream-of-consciousnessy than usual, but I liked it, so. Hope you guys do too!

Klaus Hargreeves has a wide variety of talents. Pickpocketing, sex, drug tolerance, seeing dead people, annoying his siblings, being forgotten-

(Alright, that last one may be a bit harsh. He's not  _always_ forgotten.)

He left the house right after Allison did, but with a very different trajectory. She ascended to fame- he crashed into alleys nearby the house, figured out how to survive with the voices screaming in his head.

For nearly twelve years he's lived outside of the mansion, doing whatever it takes to survive. He's cultivated most of his "skills" over that time, as the only support he's ever gotten are the checks paid electronically to the rehab center from one Allison Hargreeves.

(Thanks, sis, maybe a visit might have been in order? An ounce of sympathy for the screaming ghosts that Klaus kept trying to drown out with more and more drugs, a conversation that wasn't just from the pay phone in the rehab clinic, some kind of acknowledgement of the shit that was happening to him.)

Klaus has always been a survivor, an outlaster, but sometimes he wishes he didn't have to be. Sometimes he wishes that he was completely fucking normal, that he could sleep without needed to pop three pills before closing his eyes, that he could have lived at home for more years than he did without worrying that his Dad would shove him into a mausoleum.

But everything would have been different if Klaus didn't have his powers- he'd be a  _lot_ less fucked up, definitely- and dwelling on just how different his life could have been if he was normal is a drag and really fucking depressing because it won't happen. So he doesn't.

-

The first time he arrives on that black and white path in Heaven is not when he dies at the rave, not even when he orverdoses the night he finds out about dear old Dad's death, but rather the first time he OD's when he's sixteen-years-old.

(No one notices. No one cares. No one ever has.)

Klaus is a junkie. He's been a junkie for years. He's overdosed plenty of times, always ending up coming back. He doesn't get to meet God until after Dad dies, but he's met her Angels plenty, and they're always ready to communicate the Divine Creator's displeasure.

And oh yeah, wasn't that fun? Klaus Hargreeves, going insane at age sixteen, drowning out the screaming, violent ghosts with what drugs he could get his hands on, being told that not even God likes him. That's a great pick-me-up.

But then again, God and her Angels are not exactly the first people to dislike Klaus’ face, or attitude, or general existence. Klaus has had a lifetime of getting looked down upon, of being snarled at by annoyed siblings and barked at by Dad and being passed over by Pogo in favor of the siblings who seemed to have some sort of a chance at recovery.

(Or maybe it was that the other kids were always Dad's favorites, because they actually got shit done on missions, and thus they had higher priority. Probably. Klaus never really asked.)

Klaus is a survivor. An outlaster. But what has he been outlasting? Well, a life alone, forgotten, broken and drugged to the gills.

Oh, Klaus  _remembers_ the occasional good points of his childhood and adolescence, like the way Allison hugged him after Dad forced those original tattoos on their wrists, like the way Ben would sometimes sit in Klaus' room and play Spades with him before Mom tucked them in for bed, but for the most part his childhood is a series of unrelenting disasters, prisons of isolation, and traumatizing missions, all ignored by his siblings. 

Fuck what he said earlier about "being forgotten" being harsh, because that's what the fuck happened to him as a kid. His childhood was always Allison and Luther hanging out together, Mom helping Diego, Vanya being the ordinary one, Five being a little shit until the day he disappeared, and Ben having to deal with his own power-related shit.

No one- not even Ben- noticed when Klaus went missing for hours after his “training sessions” were supposed to end. No one cared the first time he went out and got high, trying to find a way to somehow get the voices to stop screaming.

(No one noticed when assassins attacked the house, kidnapped him and tortured him for days. No one noticed when Klaus got sent back in time and spent ten months watching his fellow soldiers die and shot dozens of men and met and lost the love of his life.)

At least when Ben died, Klaus was guaranteed a friend then. After all, if Ben wanted to interact with anyone living, then he had to talk to Klaus. And he did, so suddenly Klaus gained a friend at age twenty four. (Is that selfish? In the moments when Klaus is mostly sober, when he's near the end of a rehab stint, Klaus thinks he might be acting selfish.)

Klaus and Ben get pretty close over the next six years. You kind of have to do that, when you're the only person in the world who seems to remember or is able to see the other. It's a reciprocal kind of relationship- Klaus gives Ben human interaction and a conversational partner, and Ben reminds Klaus that he's not forgotten. Not a bad deal, Klaus has gotta say.

Then Dad dies, and Ben tells him to go to the funeral.

Klaus doesn't think that he'll be missed if he doesn't show, but Ben insists otherwise, and, well, Ben definitely has more of a Klaus-preservation instinct than Klaus does, so he guesses he'll listen to Ben, at least this once. 

(He can, at the very least, acquire more money for drugs from the mansion. He's kinda broke at the moment, after all.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemme spend just a moment to plug my Hunger Games AU of UA where all the Hargreeves siblings are former Victors. Working on that has delayed the posting of certain fics in this series, yes, but it has also gotten me out of writer's block on others and working with the characterization in that series directly inspired this addition here.
> 
> Hope you all are enjoying all of my UA fics, though!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all liked this one! Once again, please kudos/comment if you liked it! The amazing number of comments on the last story were what motivated me to push this one out so quickly/continue on with this series!


End file.
